Kirstie and Phil’s Love It Or List It viewers brand couple as having ‘more money than sense’ after shockingly selling their £679,000 renovated cottage at a loss of £71,000
Viewers of Kirstie and Phil’s Love It Or List It have branded a couple as having ‘more money than sense’ after they decided to sell up, despite making a loss of £71,000.
Doctors Aneri and Nihar went on the show with a cosy three-bedroom end of terrace cottage in the pricey village of Radlett, in Hertfordshire, worth £679,000.
However, while the area had good transport links to London, was near their offices and in close proximity to their young daughter’s school, Aneri felt that they were outgrowing their small house.
Aneri and Nihar decided to enlist property experts Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer, appearing on Wednesday evening’s episode of their Channel 4′ show, giving them a budget of £100,000 to renovate their current home and £750,000 to find a new one.
Aneri said she was firmly ‘team list it’ and felt that the current closed-off traditional cottage floor plan ‘didn’t flow’ and it meant that she felt isolated from her family.
However, partner Nihar disagreed with her throughout the show and wanted to stay in their family home, causing tension between the couple.
Aneri and Nihar initially had a budget of £100,000 to do renovations on their home, but this soon skyrocketed and the pair ended up spending a whopping £166,000.
They soon began doing over a year’s worth of work which included extending their front porch to build a downstairs wet room, installing an air source heat pump, car charging point, replacing all windows, getting French doors and knocking down the wall between the kitchen and living room.
Doctors Aneri and Nihar live in a cosy three-bedroom end of terrace cottage in the pricey village of Radlett, worth £679,000
However, their decision seemingly shocked Kirstie and Phil when they told the property gurus that they were actually going to sell the house.
The work only added an extra £95,000 to their house, meaning they lost an eye-watering £71,000 sprucing up their home for someone else to live in.
Lovers of the show were also astonished by their choice, taking to X to express their thoughts.
One wrote: ‘Why on earth would you spend so much, knowing you’ll go over the ceiling price? More money than sense.’
Another penned: ‘How can they list it when they’ve spent sooooo much money?! Idiots.’ A third said: ‘Isn’t that loss of 76k? Or am I missing something? wtf are they so happy about?’
A fourth commented: ‘How the f*** did they spend £166,000 and only get a badly laid out downstairs shower room?’
When Kirstie and Phil came over to view the newly renovated house, Aneri seemed in high spirits as she commented on the open kitchen diner, saying: ‘It was the worst part of the house and now it’s my favourite part.’
The couple shelled out a whopping £166,000 in renovating their home. Pictured: The kitchen diner before
They knocked some walls back to open up the space. Pictured: The kitchen diner after
Aneri said she was firmly ‘team list it’ and felt that the current closed-off traditional cottage floor plan ‘didn’t flow’ and it meant that she felt isolated from her family. Pictured: The kitchen before renovations
The pair decided to renovate the house heavily, spending tens of thousands of pounds. Pictured: The kitchen after
They wanted a new downstairs bathroom and decided to extend the porch area to incorporate that into their plan
Lovers of the show were also astonished by their choice to list it after spending so much money and took to X to express their thoughts
She also said that they recently hosted 20 people at the property for a birthday party and ‘it worked’.
However, although she spoke fondly of their home, she and Nihar had only come to the decision to list it a day before the Channel 4 crew came to find out their choice.
Nihar said: ‘We’ve had a lot of conversations and a lot of not talking to each other,’ hinting that selling up was not a conclusion they came to lightly.
When Kirstie broke the news that they had lost £71,000, she tried to put a positive spin on the situation and said it was an ‘investment in all of our futures,’ due to the eco-friendliness upgrades they paid for.
And this wasn’t unnoticed by viewers. One wrote: ‘Kirsty [sic] trying to find the silver lining…
‘You put a toilet in the porch, did loads of unnecessary work, it took ages and you lost money on it but…… “At least you can think you’re investing in all our futures”.’
Another penned: ‘“Investing in all our futures“. Loads of concrete, diesel vans up and down for 18 months and a hideous, inefficient heat pump that will be clapped out in 5 years.’
Aneri said: ‘We are both in agreement that this is not our forever home and we are going to outgrow the house very quickly.’
While Nihar admitted that looking at other houses with Phil ‘opened our eyes to areas we hadn’t considered.’
Aneri did not like that the small cottage did not have a downstairs toilet and was therefore not accessible. Pictured before
Aneri and Nihar decided to extend their porch area and add a downstairs toilet so elderly family members could visit. Pictured after
When Kirstie broke the news that they had lost £71,000, she tried to put a positive spin on the situation and said it was an ‘investment in all of our futures,’ due to the eco-friendliness upgrades they paid for
Social media users commented at Kirstie attempting to put a positive spin on them losing thousands of pounds
Aneri and Nihar also decided to shell out on a new car charging point and a heat pump
The couple splashed out on new French doors that open up their kitchen into their garden
The couple have a young daughter. Pictured: The playroom before renovations on the house
Pictured: The playroom after renovations on the house, where the wall has been knocked back to ensure it is more open plan
Upon hearing the value they had added to the house, Aneri and Nihar seemed upbeat, despite making a loss of tens of thousands of pounds.
Aneri said: ‘I’m actually surprised, it’s more than I thought it would be.’ Nihar added: ‘I’m very shocked, that’s going to allow me to sleep a lot easier.’
In the show, Phil took the pair around several different neighbourhoods, including in Dunstable, Knebworth and Abotts Langley to see what their £750,000 budget could get them.
All of the houses they went to view were 4-bedroom, with bathrooms on the ground floor and some even had en-suites.
And Nihar seemed to be convinced by Aneri’s decision for pastures new, after he said one of them had the ‘garden of dreams’.
However, it is unclear whether the couple ended up purchasing any of the houses they saw, as the work on their own house took more than 13 months to complete.
